inFAMOUS: Journey
by Lycrion
Summary: Fanfic set roughly 2 years before Second Son. If this is well accepted, all new chapters will deal with a new conduit with new abilities. Also, looking for helpful criticism.
1. Chapter 1: Awakening

inFAMOUS: Journey

Chapter 1: Awakening

Hi. My name is Gage Moore. I am a Conduit, which, if you've been living under a rock for the last 5 years, is a person who is able to control a unique form of matter. I can control metal. I bend it to my will, and am able to create projectiles, shields, and temporary structures out of it.

I first discovered I had this ability when I was around 13 years old, 3 years ago. As I walked home from school one day, in my hometown of Helena, Montana, I heard what sounded like gunshots and shouting to the corner to my left.

Now, a sensible person would have called the authorities and then walked away. I, however, was an incredibly stupid teen, and decided I would check it out.

So, I walked quickly to the side of a building, and started walking along the wall towards the corner of the street. Before I could reach there, however, something happened.

A D.U.P agent walked past the corner, smoking, and enveloped in a harsh, purple glow. He looked at me, then collapsed. As, I stood there, shocked, a car flew over the top of the building and landed across the street from me, exploding. Although I didn't know it at the time, because I had the Conduit gene, I was merely blasted back from the explosion.

As I lay there on the ground, terrified if I was going to die or not, I saw a purple light swoop across the sky, dropping down towards me. It stopped moving, and I realized it was a man. More specifically, a "bio-terrorist", as I had been told to call them at the time.

"Are you going to kill me?" I asked in a pleading manner. He laughed, then asked, in a Southern accent, "No. Kid, do you know what I am?" "A bio-terrorist?" I replied. His face grew harsh. "No. That's just what that goddamn new agency, the D.U.P, calls us Conduits." "Conduits?" "Conduits. That's what we are truly called." He then looked me up and down, then grinned.

"Kid, I think you might be a Conduit too." I grew pale. "'Cause, ya see, only a Conduit could've survived an explosion a few feet away from them." I stood up, shakily. "Need help with that?" he asked, then proceeded to channel purple energy (which, I learned a long time afterwards, was neon) into my body.

I felt invigorated. In fact, I felt more than invigorated. I felt... powerful. As I stood up, with renewed strength, I felt a tug in my gut. The man grasped my shoulder, and said, "Kid, now, I think I just activated your Conduit gene. You're gonna be at risk now, wherever you are. I suggest, you go home, and act like this never happened. But, if you go anywhere near them D.U.P, you're gonna be in for one helluva fight. So, practice in secret. Find your power. Cause if they ever find you, you're gonna need it. Augustine ain't so nice to be around."

And, with that said, he shot off, across the buildings, and out of sight. I looked up, dusted off my clothes, and saw a D.U.P truck rumbling down the street towards me. A few soldiers got out, along with a woman in a black trench coat.

"Hello, young man." she said. "Um, hi." I replied stupidly. She chuckled. "Well, I must ask you, have you seen anything suspicious around here?" "Well," I said, "Other than the purple energy everywhere, the burning buildings, and charred bodies, no, I can't say I've seen anything." She glared at me. "Well, little boy, I can't say I'm suprised to see you here, in the midst of all this chaos." I looked around, pretended to ignore the fact that she had gone from calling me "young man" to "little boy", and noticed that several more trucks were beginning to flood in around the area.

"Well, did you see the bio-terrorist that ran through here?" she asked me. I shook my head. She studied my face for a second, then decided I wasn't worth it. "Go home, kid. We'll take it from here." I nodded my gratitude, and hurriedly rushed home.

It was dark by the time I got there. My mom was standing outside, then rushed up and embraced me when she saw me. " Oh my god, Gage, I was so worried you had been hurt! We had heard all about the attack in the news, and for a while there, I thought..." She started crying, and my father came out a to comfort her.

Well then. Life, for me, went on. I kept going to school, and everything else was normal. Except, of course, for the fact that I had powers. I soon found out I could control metal, and shape it to my will. I spent hours hiding in the local junkyard, practicing my skills. I had a few close brushes with the owner, but I usually managed to evade him.  
I learned how to shoot metal bolts, and control metal to make me hover above the ground. I even learned how to make temporary platforms in the air to allow me to reach higher places. And, I could turn myself into metal for a moment, shooting across the ground.

Sadly, this short, pleasant time in my life was simply not meant to be. As I sat down at the table for dinner one night, with my parents and younger sister, Rowan, I heard on the news on TV that 3 "bio-terrorists" had just been captured, and were currently being transported to Curdun Cay. One of them, as I looked at the screen, was the man who had activated my powers.

This filled me with anger. It just wasn't right! How could the D.U.P reduce to so little the man who had done so much for me? Clearly, I hadn't been fully under control of my abilities at that point in time, and the fork I had been holding in my hand shot at the TV, breaking the screen apart.

As I soon realized the severity of what I had I just done, caused by my lack of control, I looked at my parents, and saw the horror on their faces. "Mom, Dad, I can explain." I started to say, but was quickly interrupted by my father. "Son," he said, "I know this is going to sound harsh, but you need to leave." "What?" I asked, shocked. "You can't stay here. You'd be a danger to everyone here, including us. But, we're not gonna turn you into the D.U.P. We've heard stories of what they do to people like you in Curdun Cay. Go, grab your valuables, we'll get you some food, and then you run."

Extremely shocked from what had just happened to my life, I did as my father said. As soon as I had finished packing stuff I needed into my backpack, I headed towards the door. My mother stopped me, gave me a teary-eyed hug, then told me "I wish it didn't have to be like this, Gage. One day, we'll see you again. I have faith in that alone in this cruel world."

I then turned around to see Rowan clinging to my hand. "Don't go, Gage! Please! I'm going to miss you so much if you do!" I bent down on my knees, then took her hands into mine. "Rowan, I swear, I will find a way to be with you again. No matter the odds, nor the cost, I will make it happen."

With that, I stood up, and walked out the door, not looking back.


	2. Chapter 2: Shattered Glass

inFAMOUS: Journey

Chapter 2: Shattered Glass

Those days were rough. Moving from city to city, never belonging. I had nothing to fall back on, except for my powers. That, and the thought of my little sister waiting for me at home. I got tempted by drugs, but I knew that they would only make my situation worse.

So, I kept moving. I was forced to use my powers a few times, to keep me safe, but after I did, I had to run, sometimes for hours at a time, away from wherever I had used them in. I knew the D.U.P had already learned of my existence. I had to make sure I was always one step ahead of them.

So, inevitably, I met another person who was hiding from them. Another Conduit. I met him while I was digging around a scrapyard in Chicago. As I was searching for some extra metal to energize myself, I saw another person there. He was a scraggly looking man, most likely a homeless person, I thought to myself. He appeared to be sitting down, resting.

I continued looking around. After a while, I looked back, and the man was still there, but this time, he was standing up, staring at me. "What, dude, never seen another human being before?" I called to him. He smiled, but didn't say anything. He was beginning to creep me out.

I decided it was time to leave the scrapyard and try to find a place to bed for the night. As I made my way out of the back entrance, I turned around, and the man was looking at me again. "Okay, you are REALLY starting to annoy me. What do you want?"

He looked at me, then pulled something out of his back pocket. It was a couple of pieces of scrap metal. He tossed them on the ground, then nodded at me. "What do you expect me to do with those?" I asked. I was beginning to feel worried. This guy might be some undercover D.U.P agent, as crazy as that sounds, but I'd heard crazier things.

He spoke, with a suprisingly strong voice, "Move 'em. Bend 'em. Whatever it is that you can do with them." "Um, no? I'm not a bio-terrorist. I can't do stuff like that." I replied. He said something, muffled. "What?" I asked. "I said, Conduit. Not bio-terrorist. Only the DUP's and the brainwashed public call us that." he said. Suprised by this outburst, I thought about doing what the man said.

I noted the fact that he said "us", not "you". I decided that I would do it, and whatever consequences came, came. "Fine" I said. I motioned my hand up, and the metal scraps flew towards it. I then shot them off a couple of feet away from him. "Good, good! But, ah, you could use a little refinement." he said, grinning. With that, he cracked his knuckles, and shards of glass began flying up around him.

I stood back, a little bit in awe of his power. As more and more pieces of glass began to surround him, his arm slowly raised. After what seemed like he had deemed that he had absorbed enough glass, he shot off a jagged bolt towards a nearby wooden sign. The sign was blasted off its hinges, and knocked a few meters down the abandoned street.

"See that? That's what happens when you get strong enough with your powers. And that's only a little sample." he said. "What's your name?" he asked. "Gage." I said. "Gage Moore." "Well, Gage, you know the history of how us Conduits first appeared, don't ya?"

"Didn't the first major Conduit appear like 3 years ago?" I asked.

"Well, yes and no." he said. "Conduits have been around for a long-ass time, longer than 3 years. The first public incident of a Conduit appearing was 3 years ago, in Empire City. Kid's name was Cole MacGrath. Damn, I don't envy him. Trapped in a city with thousands of people who blame you for the deaths of their loved ones? Ouch. Good thing he was a strong Conduit. Wouldn't have survived if he hadn't used his powers to help save the city."

"But, isn't he dead?" I asked. "We assume so." he said. "I never was there to see the body, but you think he would've stood for the DUP's and all the bullcrap they've been doing? Nah, he's dead." I wasn't so sure. I mean, I had heard of the New Marais incident, but these are the kind of things you take with a pinch of salt.

The man must have guessed what I was thinking, because he said "You know how he died?" he asked. "Not really, no." I replied. "Well, after the Empire City incident, a new Conduit emerged. No, not a normal, average Conduit like Cole. This was The Beast, and he was a force of pure destruction. Like a living volcano, that thing was. And it had the temperament of a little child who had just been denied his dessert."

"So, The Beast ends up destroying the entirety of Empire City, the town Cole had just saved. So, Cole runs down to New Marais, and ends up activating the RFI, or Ray-Field Inhibitor, to stop it, and the plague the original blast in Empire City had caused. He thought it would kill all Conduits as well, which it did. Well, most of them, at least. How else would you and I be alive, eh?"

"So, it killed Cole, too?" I asked. "Yep." he said. "Okay, Mr...?" "Oh, the names George." he said. "George Andrews." "Okay, Mr. George, how come it sounds like you knew The Beast personally?" I asked. He laughed. "Nothing gets past you, does it, kid?" Well, if you must know, The Beast is the one who activated my Conduit gene a couple years back. Turned out my power was controlling glass."

"Wait, the Beast activated your powers?" I asked. "Yep. He did it when I was sick from the plague, even though he killed roughly 30 other people in the process..." he replied, frowing. "Which leads me to ask YOU, Gage. How did your gene get activated?"

I looked at him. "A man was fighting the D.U.P in my hometown. He threw a truck, and it blasted me back. He said I must've been a Conduit too, to have survived the blast largely intact. He then started pouring purple energy into my body when he noticed I was in quite a bit of pain. It made me feel strong. Then he just left in a purple streak, immediately afterwards." I told him.

His brow furrowed. "Couldn't be. Thought he went into hiding ages ago..." "Wait, what? You knew him?" I asked. "Yeah, though I wish I didn't. His name's Ryker, and he can control neon. There was another girl who could do it too, although her name escapes me at the moment. I think she's still in Curdun Cay. Anyways, me and Ryker have bad blood. I don't really want to get into it, but don't trust him. Not for a second." he said.

Suddenly, we heard sounds of people shouting and screaming a few blocks away. George looked around, alarmed. "Gage, don't even thi-" he started, but I had already ran off by the time he finished the sentence.

As I made my way there, the sounds of screaming became even more noticeable. When I turned a corner, a man ran down the street.

"Kid!" he said, gasping for breath, "You gotta get outta here. A bio-terrorist just started to attack random people!" And with that, he rushed past me, past the corner.

Another Conduit? It couldn't be. I had just met the second one I've ever met, but this one sounded like they wouldn't be as nice as George.

So, I continued my way towards the sounds. But, just before I got there, they stopped. It was complete and total silence.

As soon as I came to where they had originated, I was left without breath. There was rubble everywhere, pieces of smashed cars, buildings, just about everything. There was water EVERYWHERE. And, at the center of it all, a woman.

She looked around 17 or 18, more of a teen, really, and acted as if she had just won the lottery. Standing there, just laughing. Then, she saw me.

"What? I thought I had finally gotten some alone time, but I guess I'll have to deal with you now, too." she said.

She started to drain water from the nearby hydrant, drawing it into her body. It started to coalesce into her hand, and she started laughing again. God, that laughter. I'm never going to forget it. Goddamn terrifying it was. She aimed it at my head, and...

Just when it seemed I was done for, a jagged wall of glass erupted before me, blocking me from her shot, albeit breaking in the process. George walked from behind me, glaring at the woman.

"Jesus Christ, Helen, can't you go one day without causing mass pandemonium?" he said.

"Oh, look, everybody!" she said. "It's George, the man who hates fun!"

"Helen, you call this fun?" he asked. "This isn't fun! This is chaos and destruction! This is innocent people getting hurt!" he shouted at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Like this nosy kid?" she asked. "He's got no right sticking his face in a Conduit's business." she said.

"He's a Conduit too!" George yelled at her.

"Really?" she said with a newfound interest. But not a caring type of interest. More of the interest a collector has in their newfound toy.

"What can you do, scrub?" she asked. "Maybe toss a little ice? Set off a spark or two?"

"No and no." I replied. "Lady, I don't trust you. I mean, I got nothing against you or anything, but you did kinda just attempt to kill me. Not sure I like showing off my powers to people like that."

Just when started to come up with a comeback, we heard sirens.

"Crap! It's the DUP's!" shouted George. He grapped my arm. "Kid, we gotta run. I'm not gonna get stuck back in Curdun Cay." he said.

With that, we took off. We ran past alleyways and homes, shops and supermarkets. After waht seem like ages, we finally stopped, out of breath.

"Gage, listen to me." George said after a few moments. "What?" I asked him.

"You need to leave. It's not safe here, especially not for a young Conduit such as you. You'll have to move on." he told me.

"I'm sick of running! I'm sick of living on the streets, not having anything to eat, being constantly persecuted, just because I have powers!" I told him. "I know Gage. All Conduits are. But, until something is done about the DUP, we're all stuck here." he said.

"What about you?" I asked. "I'll be alright. I've managed to evade the DUP's before. I'm sure I can do it again." he reassured me.

"And Helen?" I asked. "If she got away, she got away. If not, well, that's one less thorn in my side." he told me.

I hoped so, too. She's the type of person that gave us Conduits a bad name.

So, I moved on. Again. But, it wouldn't be long, until I got a chance to fight back, to strike a blow at the DUP...


	3. Chapter 3: Fair Winds Ahead

inFAMOUS: Journey

Chapter 3: Fair Winds Ahead

I'd been traveling, in total, for well on a year now.

I hated it.

All the time, running, running, so much running... Well, when I made it to Detroit, I had a chance to fight back. All with the help of another Conduit...

As I was trying to rest in my worn-out sleeping bag, in an alley, I heard something.

At first I thought it was my half-asleep imagination, but as I woke up, I realized it was all too real.

It was shouting, arguing. It was coming out of another alley, a block or two to my left. I quickly got out of my bag, and hurried down the street.

As I came upon the alleyway, I saw a light. It was a man, shouting at a woman, with a pistol that had a flashlight attached to it. He was telling her to open her purse and to give him all her valuables. I thought, oh, I'll rush there, in typical superhero fashion, and stop him.

I got beat to it.

Just before I was going to run in there, a dull, grey bolt of what appeared to be a mini tornado blasted the gun out of his hand. I looked up, and on top of the building, I saw a shadow. It dropped down, and I saw it was another teen, only a few years older than me. He was wearing a grey hoodie, checkerboard print shirt, blue jeans, and green running shoes. He had wild grey hair, that stopped about midlength at his shoulders. One eye was an average blue, but in the other, the iris was white.

"Give her stuff back." he told the man. "Sure!" the man said, clearly extremely frightened. "Just don't shoot me with that crazy Bio-terrorist power you got there!" he said.

He quickly tossed the bag back to the woman, and ran like hell. "Thanks!" said the woman. "I guess I was wrong about you bio-terrorists. Don't worry, I won't report you." she said. She gathered her things, then walked off.

The guy looked around, then seemingly saw me. "Come outta there." he said. I walked out from the shadows, nervous. "Well, now, what do we have here? A street kid?" he asked.

"I'm barely a few years younger than you!" I said. "God, when I saw you shoot that bolt, I thought you might be a helpful Conduit, but I guess I was wrong." I told him.

His eyebrow raised. "So, you know what a Conduit is, huh?" he asked. "And how might that be?" "Because I AM one!" I told him. His eyes widened. "Really? What can you do?" he asked.

Just because he had angered me, I decided to try out one of my new tricks on him. I had found one of those weird boxes the DUP's sometimes set up, and I broke it. I attempted to drain it. It made me see, in my minds eye, a new ability I could do with metal.

I concentrated, and caused a shard of metal to fly out of the ground, into my hand. It tossed it at him, and it exploded into shrapnel everywhere. The guy turned into air, yet again the dull, grey color, and dashed a feet feet away from me, reforming.

"So, you can control metal, eh?" he said. "That's a new one." "Yeah." I told him. "Still think I'm a 'street kid'?" I asked. He grinned. "Names Marcus Ciel. What's yours?" he asked. "Gage Moore." I told him.

"So, Gage, nice to meet you." he said. "Umm, yeah. You too." I said. "Well, I think I'll call ya Nails. Seems to fit." he told me. "Have you figured out what I can control yet?" he asked me. "Umm, air?" "Well, kinda. I control wind. I can create visible air currents, and attack with them." he told me.

"Cool." I said. He looked lost in thought, but then realized I was still there. "What? Oh, yes. Yes it is." And with that, he shot up, into the sky, and over the building.

"I gotta tell people not to do that with me." I grumbled. I walked back to where my bag was, and discovered a cat rifling through my satchel. I kicked it, and went back to sleep.

By the time I awoke, it appeared to already be about noon. I slowly stood up, yawned, and looked around. It was barren as ever. I then checked to see if there were any DUP cameras around. None."Perfect..." I said to myself.

These were the few times I actually got to practice my powers. I felt a tug in my gut, held up my hand in an open position, and made a piece of metal fly into my hand. I began gathering more little shards to it, and they started to cover my hand, until they almost entirely covered my hand. I and it shot towards the wall, shattering.

I inspected the place where I had shot it, closely. I could've sworn it had made a bigger dent in the bricks. I chuckled. I was getting stronger everyday.

Suddenly, I heard a faint _whoosh._ It sounded like it had come from the top of the building I was standing in front of. I looked up, but saw nothing. "Hmm..." I said to myself. I concentrated, and caused myself to turn into multiple little pieces of metal, shooting up to the top of the building. Yeah. I can do that.

I came to the top of the building, and saw Marcus standing up there, looking at me. "So, you can dash too?" he asked. "Yeah." I asked. "Huh." he said. "So, why are you here?" I asked. "I was checking on ya. Saw ya leave, and just wanted to make sure the DUP's wouldn't get you."Then, he just leaned against the edge of a metal railing that stood on the side of the building, staring at something.

I followed his eyes, and saw that he was looking hard at a D.U.P outpost, some 4 or so blocks away. It was filled with roughly 40+ soldiers, all powered up with concrete. It had some of those cages, with some perceived "Bio-terrorists" in there. Soldiers were corraling some people into them, as well.

He turned to me. "God damnit. That makes me sick. All this time, people go about living their lives, and then, with a single prick of their fingers, they are caged. Like animals. It's wrong."

I nodded. "Don't you ever want to fight back?" I asked him. He looked at me, incredibly serious, and said, "Yes."

I contemplated this for a moment.

"Well, then, why not?" I asked him. He looked at me. "I mean, we're both Conduits, and we're both pretty powerful, so, why not? We can take a single outpost, can't we?"

He thought about his for a moment. "Yes." he said. "We're going to do that. But, we need a plan. We're not going to do any good to those people if we get filled with bullets and shards of concrete. We have to be smart about it." he told me. "Come back here in a day or two, and I'll tell you what I've thought up." he told me. "Alright." I replied. He then shot off, leaving a blast of wind in his wake.

TWO DAYS LATER

I went to the top of the building again, that night. Marcus was waiting for me up there. "So, what's the plan, Airhead?" I asked him. He glared at me. "You see the south entrance?" he asked me. I looked over. "Yeah, I see it." I replied. "Well, you're going to attack from there. Make a distraction, and keep them busy. Meanwhile, I'll come in from the north and start freeing the prisoners. When I'm done, I'll join you, and we'll destroy the rest of the base. Got it?"

"It took you two days to come up with that plan? Geez, man." I said. "It doesn't matter. I had to scope out the base and the guard details and all that jazz too, so you have no right to say anything." he told me sternly.

I rolled my eyes. "So, let's do this." he said. "I'll wait for you to distract the guards." he said. I breathed deeply, calming myself, then jumped off the building.

I looked around hurriedly, making sure that nobody else had seen me. Keep calm, I thought to myself. I walked in the shadows, keeping carefully to the edge of the walk. I made my way over towards the south entrance, still keeping careful watch.

I ran into the entrance of the base. A soldier stopped me, and asked, "What are you doing here, kid? This is an official government outpost. No civilians allowed. Unless you have an incident to report...?" "I do." I said, grinning. "He's standing right in front of you." I told him. With that, I made a jagged blade of metal in my hand, and shoved the blunt end of it into his stomach.

He bent over in pain. The other soldiers started shouting, yelling to each other to get to cover and that a Bio-terrorist had just attacked one of their comrades. I dove under the side of a concrete barricade they had set up, trying to make sure that none of the bullets hit me.

Big mistake.

I had forgotten that the soldiers were imbued with concrete abilities, taken from Augustine.

The barricade exploded in front of me, nearly sending me flying. I managed to stay put, but only because I had drawn metal to my feet, rooting me in place. I dispersed it, but was in a bit of pain. I quickly shook it off, however, thanks to my fast healing abilities granted by being a conduit.

A soldier was aiming for me, but I sent out a bolt of metal and shot his gun out of his hands. He then began to generate concrete around him, and sent off a small chunk near me. "What is that suppo-" I was almost finished talking, but then the ball exploded, knocking me on my back. I groaned. "God.." I moaned. I began to stand up, slowly. I popped my neck, and grinned. "You're gonna have to do a lot more than that to stop me, guy." I told the agent.

I glanced past him, and saw Marcus hurriedly taking the suspects away from the pens. I then shot off a bolt of metal into the soldiers gut. He fell on the ground, groaning in pain. Bullets started to rush past me. Knowing I couldn't be anywhere near concrete, I erected a metal barrier in front of me, as cover. I began taking shots at the DUP's, knocking a few out.

As I continued to fight, Marcus flew up behind me. "Nice job distracting them, even if you only took a few out. Looks like you could use some help." he said.

He then began to dash around, becoming air for a moment, then slamming into the next guy, and the next, punching and attacking the D.U.P troops. He appeared to be quite skillful.

I joined him, providing the ranged defense for him, making sure that he didn't get shot in the back.

After a what seemed like hours, we had finally finished off the last of the D.U.P troopers. He kicked one of their fallen helmets.

"Nice job, Scrapheap. You may actually be able to do one of these by yourself these days." he remarked. I glared at him. "Well, I guess I gotta move on again." I said. I noticed a large, black, rectangular structure. "Core Relay!" I said. He laughed. "Go ahead. I think I have all the powers I need for now." he said.

I walked over to it, and jammed a metal spike into it's side. It exploded, knocking me backwards. I stood up, shook it off, and started to drain it.

I immediately collapsed. As I fell to the ground, I saw, in my minds eye, myself, making what appeared to be rockets, made out of metal itself, exploding into thousands of little pieces, which in turn exploded into more little pieces.

Then, I saw nothing but darkness.

The next day, when I awoke, Marcus was standing next to me, reading something. He had set me down on top of a building a few blocks away from the D.U.P station.

"Rise and shine." he said upon noticing that I was awake. "So, feel more powerful now?" he asked me.

"Yes, I do." I replied.

"Good. I packed your stuff, and I'd say we're ready to go."

"We?" I asked. "We." he replied. "I'm coming with you. Get's a little lonely living out here by yourself, and I figure you could use the help. We keep travelin' and helping people, they'll notice. They will start to realize not all Conduits are evil. We could really make a difference." he told me.

I nodded. "Well then. Let's go I said."

And so ends another chapter in my journey as a Conduit. Next time, however, things aren't gonna end so smoothly...


	4. Chapter 4: Lurking in the Dark

inFAMOUS: Journey

Chapter 4: Lurking in the Dark

Here it goes. Alright, so I was running through the streets of Boston at night, trying to clear my head of the nonsense the D.U.P. and the rest of the general public had been feeding me all day. As I ran, I slowly beagn to notice something. Whenever I stopped for a moment, the shadows areound me would gradually get larger. Then, if I moved again, they would revert back to their original positions.

This went on for a while. After around an hour, I decided to try something. I stood and didn't move. I allowed the shadows to grow larger and larger, and eventually, they enveloped the entire area I was situated in.

Then the laughing started.

It was unnerving, made even more so by the fact that there was not a single soul to be seen anywhere nearby. But the laughter sounded like it was right next to my face.

I shuddered. A sudden chill came over me, and the laughing stopped suddenly. Then somebody tapped me on the back.

I whirled around. Standing in front of me was a girl, around my age. She was wearing baggy jeans, a black t-shirt, and a dirty old baseball cap. She had brown hair, and piercing dark eyes.

"Who are you?" I asked instantly. "Were you the one laughing?" She chuckled, and her voice sounded just like the laughter. I knew it had been her that was doing it.

"Why were you laughing? And where did you come from so suddenly?" I asked. I wasn't prepared for her blatant response.

"I was laughing because people like you amuse me, and I came from... Everywhere." she said.

"Why would I amuse you?" I asked. "Because you people are all the same. You get powers, you think that you're all high and mighty, thinking that you can beat the devil in a fistfight. Then reality comes calling. You get brought low, you get stripped of everything that makes you unique. You think that your powers can save you, hide you from the rest of humanity. But they can't. And they won't." she replied.

"What do you mean that you came from everywhere?" I continued. She responded without a word, instead willing a small curl of inky blackness into being, curling it around her fingerts, then dissipating it.

"Conduit..." I breathed. I noticed the chill had gone away. I looked around. The lights had all been extinguished, and there still was nobody else around on the darkened street corner. The houses looked empty.

She nodded. "And why do you assume so much about me?" I asked her. She looked away, shaking her head, saying nothing. "Well? Spit it out. I want answers." I persisted.

"Because it happened to me!" she shouted. I stepped back in suprise at her sudden outburst. "I thought I could rule the world. The day I got my powers was the single best and worst day of my life. It went to my head. I robbed gas stations, then grocery stores, then banks, then jewelry stores! It was amazing. I was always one step ahead of my pursuers. I would lay false tracks, make them think they had me when they never did. Until one day, I slipped. They caught me. I was beaten down. They took me to Curdun Cay. They forced me into rooms filled with blinding light, and told me to try and get out. Every day. The torture was unbearable."

I felt a little bit sorry for her. "I'm sorry. I... I didn't know." I said. "No." she said angrily. "You didn't." "How did you get out?" I asked. "One day, when I was getting transported for some research, our armored car went under attack. When the dust settled, a man, who had this weird, purple energy swirling about him, came over and told me to run. I've been doing that for well on a year, now." She then looked at me, and vanished into black mist. The lights returned, and I was left alone in the middle of the night. "I didn't even get your name!" I shouted aloud. No answer. I shook my head. I was getting really annoyed with people running off all the time.

2 DAYS LATER

I was busy running some errands for a local grocery store, around noon, getting some more food money for me and Marcus. I was just delivering some packages. As I walked around, I noticed on some of the screens of a TV store the news. Evidently, a Conduit had escaped from a nearby detention facility. His current whereabouts were unknown. He was stated to be very volatile and that he was not to be talked to under any circumstances.

Another Conduit? This city was turning out to be more and more strange by the day. I finished the errands, bought a few bottles of water and cans of food, and returned to where me and Marcus had set up camp for the time being, in a small closed off area of a park. He was just waking up, and as I sat down next to him, I told him about what I had seen.

"Apparently, there's another Conduit running around here. It can't be the girl, because the news report I saw very clearly stated it as a man. Said he was around his late teens." I told him.

"Anything else? We need to know more about this guy, determine if he's a threat or not." Marcus replied. I shook my head. He coughed. "Ah, well then. If we see him, we can fight back well enough. Well, depending on what he can do." he said.

I nodded.

Suddenly, we heard sirens. I looked, and far off, a convoy of police cars and fire engines rushed past, wailing. "Wonder what's going on?" I said. There was a column of smoke in the distance, climbing up high in the sky. I started to get up, but Marcus grabbed me. "Gage, don't. You remember the last time you tried to be a hero. You couldn't stop coughing for a week!" he warned.

I shook my head. "I just can't stand here and wait if there's a chance people are getting hurt. We have powers, Marcus! We can use them to help people!" "Yes, we have powers. But have you forgotten what happens if people know we have them? Do you want to be tortured for research in Curdun Cay? I sure as hell don't." he replied.

"I'll be careful. Don't worry about me." I said. I started running. "Gage!" I heard Marcus call behind me. I ignored him and kept going.

I eventually made my way down several streets and alleyways. When I got to where the smoke had come from, I stood in shock. A tall building, about 10 stories high, was ablaze. Firefighters rushed to and fro, and several people were sitting on makeshift seats, coughing, with medical personnel helping them. I walked up to a fighter who didn't seem too busy, and asked him what had happened. "Are you serious, kid? It was all over the news. You know that bio-terrorist that had escaped recently? Well, somebody in that building saw him. They started to call the D.U.P, and he noticed. Before they could finish dialing, he started to shoot at the building."

"He somehow got inside, and continued lighting the place up. He ran off before we got here. Headed east, so stay away. The D.U.P can handle this." he explained. "Is anybody still in there?" I asked. He shook his head. "No, thankfully we got everybody out. Wasn't that populated of a building, despite its size."

I nodded. I began looking for definitive marks of what the Conduit's ability was, but there was only scorch marks. I assumed the most likely ability he had was fire manipulation.

I walked back into the alley, away from the scene. Once I was convinced that none of the firefighters or police officers were around, I began to head east.

As I continued on my way, the scorch marks became more and more noticeable, until it seemed like the entire street had been victim to a fire vortex. I kept running. It became smokey, and the ash was starting to blot out the sky.

Finally, I found what I assumed was where he was hiding. It was a simple little trailer, but the door had been blown of, and a sheet of metal was melded in place of it. I could hear somebody moving around inside.

I chuckled. He couldn't hide in a metal box. I reached out, and pulled the sheet straight from the trailer. Inside, a guy around 17, with a dark tan, short black hair, a red t-shirt, brown cargo pants, and some cheap sneakers. But what startled me most were his eyes. They were a blazing red-orange color, and were wholly unnatural. He was in the middle of drinking a soda, and his eyes were wide.

He didn't waste any time. He dropped his pop, and held out his hand. Flames began to curl up and down his arm, and he was forming a large fireball . I held out my arms in peace. He lowered his, and glared at me.

"What the hell are you doing? And how the hell did you rip off that sheet of metal? I welded it to the trailer itself. As far as I'm concerned, it was part of the trailer." he ranted, clearly furious.

"I'm a Conduit too. My name is Gage. I just wanted to talk." I told him calmly, trying to defuse the situation. He glared at me. "Hunter..." he mumbled. "What?" I asked. "My name is Hunter." He then nodded at me. I took it he was expecting me to continue, so I did.

"I saw what you did. I wanted to know why you did it. Innocent people could have gotten hurt!" I told him. He chuckled. "Why did I do it? Well, for a number of reasons. It was fun. I was protecting myself. I didn't want to get caught by the DUP's. What else do you want?"

I was shocked by his disregard for other people's lives. "What is wrong with you?" I asked? Again, he chuckled. "Everything?" he shrugged. "Look, I think I'm done talking to you."

And with that, he held out his hand, and a beam of red-hot flames leapt out of it, straight at me. I had no time to react. But, before I could try and defend myself, somebody did it for me.

A dark wall materialized in front of me, shielding me from Hunter's fury. I lowered my arms from attempting to shield myself, and looked to my left. The girl from a few nights before, the Shadow conduit, had stepped in front of me.

"Oh wow." Hunter smirked. "Is that you Eryn? Came back for more since the last beatdown I gave you?" and continued to shoot a stream of fire at her.

So, her name was Eryn? Hmm.

I knew I had to do something. The effort from Eryn to keep that shield was evident. She couldn't even talk.

I looked around. There was a stop sign nearby, on the end of the street. I concentrated, and pulled it towards my hands. Ripping the top off, I forced the end into a point. I shouted at Eryn. "Get down!"

She did, and I threw my makeshift spear straight at Hunter. He clapped his hands, and a burst of fire shot out, knocking it aside.

"So, the dog's got some bite, eh? Good. I was hoping this would be too easy." And with that, he began to shoot rapid fireballs towards me. I quickly pulled the sheet of metal I had ripped off earlier towards me, planted it in the ground, and used it as a shield. Eryn quickly scuffled over to join me.

I was in a trailer park. There was metal everywhere. But, I figured this would take a little more strategy than just hurling chunks of metal at him.

"Eryn," I breathed. "Cover me." Before she had any chance to argue, I was running towards a particularly beat-up trailer, ripping metal off of it to and fro.

I looked back, Everytime Hunter tried to shoot a fireball, she would just drown it out. Eventually, it seemed he had had enough, so he came running after her, with his fists set alight.

I kept going. Once I had a sizeable amount of metal there, and a skeleton of a trailer, I stopped.

I began to pull the pieces towards my body, all over me. It flung like magnets towards my hands, until all you could see were my eyes.

I had armor, and I was about to beat this dragon.

I began to run over to where I had seen Hunter chase Eryn to. As I ran there, I heard screaming. I came to behind the trailer they were at, and saw that Eryn had condensed a small bubble around her in order to protect her from the onslaught. She was weakening.

Hunter turned around, and a look of disbelief, then suprise, then anger came upon his face. "So, the Tin Man got some fancy gear? Well, if you're trying to be a knight in shining armor, you kinda missed the shining part..

He began to conjure a massive fireball in his hands. I ran towards him and tried to punch him, but even with the fireball, he still easily dodged my attack. As I tried to get up, he slammed the fireball down onto my body.

It hurt like hell, pardon the pun.

I knew it was bad, but I couldn't afford to lose. I grabbed his leg and headslammed it, hearing a sharp crack as I did so. He yelled out in pain, and I took my chance to get up.

When I had stood up, Eryn had collapsed from exhaustion, and Hunter was standing with a crook in his leg, clearly trying to ignore it.

He made more fire come onto his hand. I simply grabbed it, and turned his arm, breaking it. He fell down, screaming. I kicked him in the chest, just for good measure.

The fight had ended just in time, it seemed, because I heard DUP sirens coming.

I walked over to Eryn, and made my armor fall off in pieces. I picked her up, then ran like hell away from the park. I hid in an alleyway, far away from the scene of our scuffle. I set Eryn down on the ground, because there was nowhere else to do so. After about an hour or so, she woke up.

"Ugh, where am I?" she said, as she slowly sat up. I was sitting opposite her. "After you were knocked out, I carried you here." I replied. "And what happened to Hunter?" she asked. I shook my head. "I left him for the DUP's to clean up."

She looked at me as if I had just slapped her. "Why would you do that to someone? Sure, he wasn't entirely right in the head, but that is not a reason to condemn him to a life of torture." she said angrily. "He was a menace! If I had helped him too, he would've just gone back and ended hurting more people! I couldn't let that happen. I'm sorry."

She looked down. I decided to change the subject. "Why did you protect me?" I asked. "Because, you were better than me. If I had seen that destruction, before I went to Curdun Cay, I would've laughed and went on my way. But you didn't. You actually wanted to help, and I thought, when I saw he was going to attack, that you didn't deserve to be killed like that."

"How did you even know I was there?" I asked. "I've been following you for the past few days." she replied. "Why?" "I was interested in what you were doing here, what your business was." she told me.

I thought for a moment. "Maybe you would like to come with me and Marcus? I mean, it's kinda dangerous out there, and-" She interrupted me. "Do you think I'm afraid? You saw what I can do. But, yeah, I think I will come with you guys. I was getting sick of being a loner anyways."

After that, I decided we should probably go find Marcus. We found him back at our campground, sleeping. I shook him awake, and he looked at me, then at Eryn, then back at me.

"Who's the chick?" he asked. "Eryn." I replied. "And what is she doing here?" "She's that Shadow girl I told you about. She wanted to stick with us." I told him. He sat up. "Okay, but did you think any of this through?" he asked. "We barely can get by as it is, and it'll just be all the harder now." "I know, Marcus, but I think we can manage. Besides, now you have an excuse to stop sleeping all day. You can come help me run errands for people." He groaned. "Argh, fine. But I see her doing anything suspicious, she better get ready to be sent up to Cloud Nine." he told me.

She held up her fist, and shadows began dancing around it. "Just try, buddy, try." I sighed. It was going to take a while to get used to this. But, my journey didn't end there. Far from it. But this is where I'll leave off for now, I think. Bye.


End file.
